| Early to Middle Pleistocene Hystrix material in the collections of the IVPP in Beijing, has been biometrically studied and compared with other fossil and extant species. The specimens are from Zhoukoudian (Beijing), the Liucheng Gigantopithecus cave (Guangxi) and other caves in that province, the Wazhuwan and Yanhui Cave (Guizhou) and from Longgupo (Sichuan). None of the fossil specimens can be allocated to the extant Chinese Hystrix brachyura subcristata Swinhoe, 1870, subgenus Acanthion F. Cuvier, 1823. Most of the collections studied consist of a mixture of two species with overlapping size ranges. Cheek teeth of most Hystrix species do not show diagnostic characters other than size, so not every one of them can be assigned with certainty to the larger... |
